Panzerkraft with the IS Academy
by ZeonTwoSix
Summary: What happens when an academy filled with Powered Armor users engage in the sport known as Sensha-Do? Expect a lot of action and comedic hijinks in the site's first ever ISxGuP Crossover fic.
1. PROLOGUE

**PROLOGUE**

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Now where did Council Prez go to now?"

The voice came from a man with dark-blue hair and wearing a white school uniform as he was aimlessly weaving through the crowd at a busy fish market. It was just half an hour past noon and he was supposedly there to buy some fish for his house.

"And I still need to get back to the IS Academy before sundown or else…"

Suddenly he got a private message from his high-tech bracer, the same one which he can use to call out his personal Infinite Stratos unit, _Byakkushiki._

_X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X_

_Ichika-kun,_

_I might not be able to assist you on your fish shopping today. Something important came up, prompting me to attend to it as Student Council President. I will try to make up for it some other time. _

_You're free to go about for now, but make sure to be back before curfew; your sister can be quite scary sometimes…_

_-Tatenashi_

_X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X_

With that, Ichika scratched his head in disbelief. He thought that with her around, he would be safe to go about outside the IS Academy. She is the Council President after all, the one considered as the most powerful IS user. And right now, she just left him all alone in a public area.

"Seriously, Tatenashi-san? Well, talk about responsibility," he thought.

Just then, he heard a loud cry from a distance. "STOP, THIEF!"

He quickly turned to the direction of the voice until he chanced upon a man running towards him, holding a cellphone.

"_I can't use Byakkushiki here, lest I expose myself. Guess I have no choice…"_

Just as the thief was fast approaching Ichika, the latter grabbed hold of the thief's right arm and took him down. He then placed his left knee on the thief's back, just as a couple of policemen arrived to apprehend the snatcher.

"Thanks for the help, youngster," said one of the policemen who picked up the stolen cellphone from the ground, while his partner cuffed the criminal. "Better give this to that young woman nearby; she's the one with orange hair and green uniform."

"Thanks, officer. Just had to respond properly," Ichika replied upon receiving the phone from the cop. Looking at the phone, he noticed a small Anglerfish figure dangling on it, and with a logo of a school on its front casing.

"Ōarai Girls' Academy?" He thought, while looking at the logo. Just then, the girl who the cop described minutes ago approached him.

"Oh, this must be yours," Ichika lightly said, as he handed the phone to her. "You need to be more careful with your belongings. There are a lot of those criminals here in the docks, you know."

"Th-Thank you…" She uttered, but could not look at Ichika; her cheeks began to turn red, as she turned away and left.

"Well, that went rather well," he said while scratching his head again. "Better get back to looking for fish…"

He then looked at the big ship docked at the pier next to the fish market. It also bore the same logo as the one he saw on the girl's cellphone.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Meanwhile, at the observation deck of Ōarai Academy's aircraft carrier-slash-floating school complex…

"Hmmn, I think I got your idea, President Sarashiki. But a friendly Sensha-dō match within 8 days? "

"Ms. Kadotani, I can easily set the location for the match through my authority. And despite their lack of familiarity with the concept, I can assure you that the students of the IS Academy can be as competitive as the majority of schools who do Panzerkraft."

"So why 8 days then?"

"Let's just say the timeframe will give them a chance to familiarize themselves with the sport. This will also give us a chance to procure the tanks the IS Academy will use, and for both schools to find extra crew members."

"What is it for us then?"

"As current head of the Sarashiki Family, I will authorize a reasonably sizeable donation in favor of Oarai. Also, I have received word from the top brass that the IS Academy will gladly conduct periodical inspection of the school complex to keep it as seaworthy as possible."

Anzu shook her head in approval then picked up a piece of sweet potato from her table. After taking a bite, she poured some iced tea on a couple of glasses, then handed one to Tatenashi.

"Consider this as my sign of approval, Madame President," she declaimed as both of them tapped their glasses as a sign of courtesy…

_-=-=-=-= INCOMING TRANSMISSION=-=-=-=-=-_

_Yeah, this might be a bit short than expected, but expect some gaps between updates as I will be conducting extensive research on both series and the machines that will eventually appear thereof._

_Until then…_

_-=-=-=-= END TRANSMISSION=-=-=-=-=-_


	2. Kapitel Eins

**KAPITEL EINS: The Briefing**

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"_Attention to all female personal IS users, proceed to the Student Council Office. I repeat: to all female personal IS users, proceed to the Student Council Office…"_

As the PA system in the Infinite Stratos Academy bellowed out this message at least twice, a first-year student with long black hair tied in a ponytail was running along the hallway.

"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have stayed longer in the clubroom."

Upon arriving at the Student Council Office, she already saw four girls seated at the reception couch.

"What took you, Houki? We were about to begin the meeting without you." said Rin, who has just finished her serving of iced tea.

"Sorry guys," she replied. "I just had to finish up with my duty at the Kendo Club when I heard the announcement at the PA."

"You could have at least set up some time for yourself, Houki-san; at least without being too preoccupied with club activities."

"Easy for you to say, Cecilia; I don't see you being as pre-occupied as I am."

Just then, a couple of figures entered the room. "Now, now; let's keep the animosities at a minimum here. I do not want the office to be in a complete mess while I'm in charge."

"This better not be like that ploy you pulled during the festival, Kaichou," Laura uttered, while she slowly drew out her army knife.

"Not to worry, Bodewig-san," Tatenashi replied as she opened her fan which bore the words "stability" in katakana. "I won't be involving Ichika-kun directly in this one. And would you please put that away?"

Laura let off a small grunt as Tatenashi sat at her office table. "The reason for calling you lot is because of the upcoming sports festival. As customary in the IS academy, personal IS users are to participate in a friendly match with another school, not just for friendly relations or publicity but for teamwork training as well."

"An inter-school friendly game?" Cecilia inquired. "I have heard of similar events in the past but I never thought it was a standing tradition here."

"Well, it only started when the Academy was just on its second year of existence," Kanzashi clarified, as she looked into the academy's history on her handheld tablet device. "Every year, the academy would pick a certain "unique" sport where we challenge whoever the defending National Champion is."

"And for this year's inter-school friendly," the president added. "We are going to participate in something completely different."

She then opened her fan to reveal the name of the sport, as the girls inched forward to read it out of curiosity.

"_Sensha-Do_?"

"Yup. Also known as Tankery or _Panzerkraft, _'tis basically a regulated combat sport where we get to engage aboard vintage tanks that were actually designed, tested, or used before August 15, 1945."

"Ah, I've heard about this from a few friends of mine," Houki added. "They said that it is a life-changing path of discipline for young girls aiming to become proper ladies of society. So far, it has caught quite a following among girls around our age, too."

"Proper ladies of society, you say?" Charlotte turned to her and asked. "That is quite a unique approach in training girls, to be honest."

"Well, it has been proven quite effective as to its underlying purpose," Tatenashi clarified. "The chances of men falling for a woman who engage in _Panzerkraft_ is quite high, with about 60-70% success rate."

Upon hearing this, the girls immediately went silent; including Kanzashi.

"_Great, they all got Ichika-kun in their minds again…"_ Tatenashi said to herself as she saw the six girls begin to daydream about him.

Quickly though, Laura snapped out of the same and raised her hand. "Kaichou, do we have any info as to our opponents?"

"Well, I'll let Kanzashi-chan fill you in with that." She then shook her younger sister in the shoulder. "Shall we proceed with the rest of the briefing?"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Meanwhile, a similar briefing session is underway at Ōarai Academy among its tank commanders …

"Another friendly match?"

Momo quickly replied, "Yes, but this is slightly different from the other matches we have been in."

"How different, exactly?" inquired Hippo team Commander Caesar, who was just having a piece of sweet potato while the rest listened in earnest. "I thought that we'd at least get a few months' rest from _Panzerkraft-_related activity after winning the Nationals."

"Well, this was a special request from a highly-distinguished school in the country so we have no reason to decline."

"May we know who sent the invitation, Momo-san?" inquired Anglerfish team, and Overall Squadron Commander Miho. The PR manager then handed to her a copy of the invitation letter.

"Infinite Stratos Academy? I think I have heard about this school before…"

"Are you sure, Squadron Commander?" the rest of the girls in the room asked, apart from the members of the Student Council.

"Yes. They said it's an all-girl academy where they train them to handle a highly-advanced exoskeleton armor of the same name. One of my distant cousins applied for that school last year."

"Well, the academy itself got thrust into the headlines recently because one man was able to start up the supposedly female-locked suit, and is now enrolled there," Yuzu added. "I just looked it up an hour before this meeting."

"…and she could not stop fawning over the guy." Momo sarcastically furthered.

"Do you have a picture of him, Yuzu-sempai?" Rabbit team Commander Azusa asked with enthusiasm over the topic. Yuzu then passed to them a picture of the said guy.

"You're right, sempai; he's quite the good looking type!" Azusa exclaimed.

"I agree with Azusa-san on this one," Duck team Commander Noriko added. "Certified hottie, that's for sure."

"Hmmn, not bad in the looks department, if you ask me," Caesar commented lightly, as she passed the picture to Miho.

Upon seeing the pic though, she stopped and let out a light blush.

"Is there something wrong, Nishizumi-san?" Momo inquired, as the rest of Oarai's tank commanders all looked at Miho.

"Um… I actually met him the other day at the Fish market…"

The room quickly erupted: "REALLY?!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Returning to the meeting at the IS Academy, the girls are now looking at the data flashed through a projector screen.

"Ōarai Girls Academy… Seems they are not to be taken lightly," said Laura who was looking a lot more closely at the stats of the tanks.

"To add, there are a few conditions that we have agreed upon with our counterparts at Ōarai," Tatenashi said while the rest listened on. "First, the match will be a 5-on-5 knockout type; Second, we are allowed to get at the most 5 extra crew members from outside the academy, but who are well within the age limit. And third, we get to choose the location for the match, which has already been green-lighted by the Japanese Sensha-Do League."

"But first, we will need tanks," Cecilia interrupted. "We are not even sure as to which ones the opponents will field by then."

"No, I think they will be using at the most all their German tanks for this match," Laura rebutted, while highlighting the data on Oarai's Panzer IV, StuG III, Hetzer, and Tiger (P).

"Still, we would need to confirm if they will not be deviating from their lineup at all."

"Not to worry, I got that bit covered. I will try to get in touch with my subordinates at the _Schwartzer Hase_ to do some recon and supply us with at least the same StuG III they have."

"So, until we have data on their lineup, we will put the rest of the tank procurements on hold," Tatenashi noted. "And since you immediately contributed for this event, I'm putting you in charge as our Squadron Commander, Bodewig-san."

"Me?"

"Well, among us personal IS users, you are the only one who has quite an experience in pre-IS military machines," Charlotte confided. "And besides, this might be your chance…"

"Um…" the white-haired girl slightly blushed. "I-I'll do my best then…"

"I think it would be proper now to set the teams as well," Kanzashi continued. "And based on the available tanks we can procure under official Sensha-Do regulations, the following will be the confirmed crew leaders: Bodewig-san for Team 1, Alcott-san for Team 2, Dunois-san for Team 3, Kaichou-nee for Team 4, and Shinonono-san for Team 5."

"Hey!" Rin quickly protested. "How come I'm not included as a tank commander?"

"Based on the data from the list of tanks allowed by the JSL, we are unable to find any tanks that were made by China since they roughly participated in the World Wars."

Rin grunted in disbelief. "Well, at least let me ride in one of the tanks; I just cannot stand aside and do nothing while the rest experience the path towards the ideal woman."

"Feel free to choose your team then, Rin-san. For now, let us adjourn until we get further information."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_-=-=-=-=INCOMING TRANSMISSION=-=-=-=-_

_Quite a long chapter, this. By the way, I'll make some references from the World of Tanks roster regarding the tanks to be used in this crossover. Expect the next chapter anytime within November._

_P.S. Just read the info about the GuP English dub; did NOT expect to see familiar VA's from IS… Coincidence?_

_-=-=-=-=END TRANSMISSION=-=-=-=-_


	3. Kapitel Zwei

**KAPITEL ZWEI: Eyes and Ears**

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"So, how do you picture him personally, Miporin?'

"Yeah, Miho-san; it must be quite a heartwarming experience to meet someone as gentlemanly as him."

Miho was blushing badly when Saori and Hana egged her about that young man she met at the Fish Market. And this is while they were in the middle of helping out the Automotive Club in tweaking their Panzer IV Ausf H inside the tank garage.

"Um, pardon for being a bit rude but could you guys not pressure me too much about him already? I only just met him once."

"You need not worry that much, Miporin," Saori replied. "I mean, if I were in your shoes at that time, I'm pretty sure I'd be sooooooo head-over-heels for him."

"Well, this is the very first time we've seen Nishizumi-dono this flustered," Yukari added. "Clearly he must be quite good-looking, right?" Miho remained silent, the redness of her cheeks becoming more pronounced.

Mako then came out of the driver's hatch, having finished her share of tweaking their tank a few minutes ago and was just stirred up from her power nap. "Would you girls mind keeping it down? I'm trying to get some shuteye."

"Sorry about that, Mako-chan. We just could not contain ourselves because Miporin just met a cool guy and is flustering quite badly."

"She's just lovestruck, am I right?" Mako said in a dry, deadpan manner. This caused Miho to really blush _very _brightly.

"Anyways, have you guys actually met him?"

"Um, no; but we got a picture of him from the vice-president. She even gave Miporin a copy of it!" Saori squeed as she handed the picture to the still-drowsy Mako.

"He's not that bad, if you ask me. So, can I have my power nap now?"

Just then, Tsuchiya approached Mako. "Hello, Reizei-san. Just wanna ask if you found any faults as to the tank controls."

"Not much. Why?"

"Well, we've been having trouble with refitting the rollers on the Panzer IV ever since that awesome drift you did during the finals. I fear that some of the connectors on the rollers may be a bit loose."

"I'll test it later after catching some Z's. Anything else?"

"Well…" Tsuchiya twiddled her fingers out of hesitation. "I was wondering of you could teach me how to drift the Tiger (P)."

"Um, I thought you already know that. You did force that big tank to do a wheelie in the finals."

"After seeing that epic drift though, I had this feeling that getting our Tiger to drift would be a lot more awesome."

Mako grunted lightly as she felt that she got a few hours of nap time robbed again. Then she let off a sigh.

"Okay, okay. But we're not taking that tank for a spin, understand?" Tsuchiya nodded in response as Mako exited the Panzer IV and joined her.

"Seems Mako-san has become a bit more open to others," Hana noted.

"Ever since Sodoko fulfilled her promise of deleting Reizei-san's tardiness record, she has been slightly more active," Yukari explained.

"But she tends to steal some sleeping hours in between classes," Saori complained. "Last time I saw her skipping English, she was sleeping on top of our tank."

"It can't be helped though," Miho uttered after having regained her composure. "She is one of the smartest here in Oarai, and is our top tank driver, but she _is_ still the same, sleepy Mako we know."

"Easy for you to say, Miporin. You're our very headstrong squadron commander, yet you're the same cute, clumsy girl we all love. And from the looks of things right now, having that ffated encounter may have made you a _lot_ cuter."

"So this is what love can do, don't you agree Miho-san?" Hana said to her, smiling. Miho blushed again, as the rest of Anglerfish Team giggled.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"So… a Panzer IV Ausf H, a Porsche Tiger, a StuG III, and a Hetzer…"

Not far from Ōarai's tank garage were three girls hiding behind the thick bushes on the other side of the field. One of them was looking through a pair of binoculars, while the other two were taking pictures of the tanks, and processing vital info about them.

And all three of them wore identical black eye patches on their left.

"Who would think that sneaking up on this ship would be such a breeze, right Elda?"

"School ships like these are basically protected under post-war multinational treaties, Freya. It's unlikely that they have any reliable weapons apart from the tanks they use for sports."

"I was expecting a bit more hostile resistance when we got here."

"Keep it down you two," Clarissa ordered them. "We cannot compromise this mission until we have found out the last tank they'll be fielding."

"But can we just assume that they'll be using the B1 Bis or the M3 Lee, Vice-Captain?"

"Until we see the last tank, we're not to assume anything."

Just then, a member of the Morals Committee approached them from their left. "Um, what are you guys doing in there?"

"Crud, we've been spotted!" Immediately, the three girls high-tailed out of the forest to avoid getting captured, as the MC member picked up her radio and contacted her superior while in pursuit.

"Sodoko, I've spotted three suspicious persons spying on the Panzers. They're headed towards the ship's bow."

"Good work, Pazomi; I'll inform the rest of the committee. Take a few members with you and corner them there."

Just then, Pazomi felt a sudden gust of wind from the direction where the spies headed. Then she saw three figures flying away.

"We have a problem, Sodoko; they escaped by air."

"That cannot be possible!"

Anzu then connected to Sodoko and Pazomi on their radio. "No need to fuss about it, you guys. They're just visitors."

"But President-"

"Hey, as long as they haven't seen the full roster we'll be fielding, we're good."

"Whatever you say, Kaichou," Sodoko replied. "Pazomi, continue with the usual patrols."

"Roger that." Just then, she saw and picked up a patch stuck on the bushes. It depicted a black rabbit with an eye patch and an assault rifle, as Pazomi read the words embroidered in it.

"'_Schwartzer Hase'_… I better take this to Sodoko and Kudotani-Kaichou…"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Meanwhile, the three girls who bolted out of Ōarai Academy are now over the high seas in their IS suits. Mid-flight, Clarissa contacted Laura while Elda transmitted the data they compiled from their recon mission.

"We're sorry, Captain Bodewig. We only figured out four out of the five tanks they'll be using."

"That's alright, Clarissa; the info we need is enough. Return to our Asia-Pacific Satellite Base and pick up the StuG III I have reserved there, then meet us up at the IS Academy within 36 hours."

"Roger that, Captain…"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X


	4. Kapitel Drei

**KAPITEL DREI: Gathering of Steel**

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Roughly 7 days before the friendly game, two of the designated commanders for the recently-formed IS Academy Panzerkraft team met up inside the large stadium. Unfortunately, nary a tank was present and so were the rest of the squad.

"What gives?" said Houki, who actually waited for a whole hour to compensate for being late during the meeting. "I thought we'd have our respective tanks today so we can practice for the friendly match."

"You're right, Houki," added Charlotte. "I don't actually see anything that we could consider as a tank, to be honest…"

Just then, they all heard a loud rumbling coming from the southwest gate. From the same emerged a low-profile, gray tank – a StuG III Tank Destroyer - which then parked about a few meters from where they were standing.

"This must be the place where the Captain told us to meet her," said the blue-haired girl who popped out of the tank's rear-left hatch. "But I don't see her anywhere."

Out of curiosity, Houki and Charlotte approached the tank. "Um, excuse us-"

"Ah, you must be the 'War buddy' that Captain Laura mentioned a few times before." She then boarded out of the tank and approached the two, reaching out for a handshake.

"_Schwartzer Hase_ Vice-Captain Clarissa Harfouch; I express my gratitude for showing hospitality to Captain Laura during her stay here in the Academy."

Charlotte, ever the calm one, responded to the handshake. However, Houki got to thinking…

"_This must be the girl who's been feeding Laura with incorrect info about Japanese culture. She's so dead now…"_

Before Houki could draw out _Amatsuki*_ though, they all heard a louder rumbling from the northeast gate. A few minutes later, out came three more tanks of varying sizes. The all parked on the left side of the tank that Clarissa was in.

"Sorry we're late, everyone! It's quite a big learning curve to operate tanks of such vintage." Cecilia uttered while coming out of the driver's seat of one of the tanks that arrived – a Cromwell Medium Tank with a 3.7-Inch Howitzer.

"You're just saying that because you're not used at all to the controls," complained Laura who came out of the green tank beside Cecilia's Cromwell – an ARL V39 prototype French Tank Destroyer. "Have the higher-ups at Britain ever taught you how these machines work?"

"Well, says the girl who's so well-versed in military tactics that the only thing she brought is a slow, large, and practically untested French Tank."

"It would be best not to mock this machine. Also, it's a _tank destroyer_ which is equipped with a modest 105mm cannon that can deal quite a heap load of pain to your weak-armored Cromie."

While the two were bickering about, the Sarashiki sisters emerged from the third tank – an IS-2 Heavy with the iconic 122mm D-25T cannon.

"Seems Alcott-san missed the point that Bodewig-san won't be commandeering the ARL," Kanzashi observed.

"Well, what else do you expect from those two?" Tatenashi affirmed while resting her fan on her forehead.

Houki, Charlotte and Clarissa approached the rest of the girls as they exited the tanks they brought. "So, this will be the machines we'll be using for the friendly match, Kaichou?" Houki asked, to which Tatenashi responded with a nod.

"Unfortunately though," Kanzashi quickly added. "The last tank – the one you'll be commanding for the match - has yet to arrive."

"What do you mean by that?"

Tatenashi stepped forward and replied, "Right at the last minute, we hit a critical snag at procuring a Type 3 Chi-Nu medium tank; there were not that many examples of the same available for use."

"About that though…"

Nearly everyone turned to see who spoke those words. And they were quite surprised to see the person who joined them.

"Orimura-sensei?"

Immediately, Clarissa, Freya and Elda approached her and saluted. "No need for that, girls; we're not in Germany anymore."

"Were you pertaining to the request for a back-up tank, Orimura-sensei?" Kanzashi inquired.

"Yes; I heard from the higher-ups about the upcoming _sensha-do_ match, and the said problem regarding the tanks we need. So, I tried to make contact with a few friends at the American base in Hawaii, who were quite grateful for helping out with the _Silver Gospel _Incident. Luckily, they sent to us one."

"That means Houki will be taking command of an _American_ tank?" Charlotte inquired, to whom Chifuyu nodded in response.

"As a matter of fact, I think it's coming here within the next few minutes..." This left some of the girls scratching their heads in confusion, particularly Houki.

But just as she promised, the final tank did arrive. This development caught everyone by surprise, especially Cecilia who just approached her homeroom teacher after her bickering session with Laura.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" she quickly asked.

"Yes. It's the M4A3E8 Sherman… or as the Americans would call it the 'Easy Eight'."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at Ōarai Academy, another meeting was underway. Unlike the last one though, only the Student Council, the head of the Morals Committee, and Anglerfish Team were present.

"To think that our ship would get easily infiltrated like this…" uttered Sodoko, who was closely looking at the patch that Pazomi recovered from the forest area.

"Since the _sensha-do _rulebook doesn't prohibit pre-match surveillance, we should be expecting this already," Yukari clarified, while looking at her copy of the rules.

"We're just lucky that they haven't seen the complete lineup," Anzu commented confidently.

"Do you have plans for the final tank, Kaichou?" Saori inquired.

"I already got that covered; I contacted some people who will serve as our 'heavy back-up' crew for the last tank. They'll be meeting up with us here about 4 days before the match."

"What are we going to do then in the meantime?"

"Well, since they tried to spy on our tanks, how about we return the favor?" Yukari suggested.

"As one would expect from our infiltration specialist," Hana commented.

"I like your suggestion, Akiyama. But for this one, I think you must take someone with you."

As Anzu uttered those words, she slowly shifted her eyes on Miho. Yuzu, Saori and Hana followed suit, which apparently surprised their squadron commander.

"Me?"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Note: *_Amatsuki - _One of the katanas from Houki's personal IS _Akatsubaki, _which appears on her right hand.

Up next in Kapitel Vier: The Counter-Infiltration…

X-X-X-X-X-X-X


	5. Kapitel Vier

**KAPITEL VIER: Now Recruting… and Infiltrating…**

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"_We need to get ourselves out of here!"_

"_How are we gonna do that now, Nishizumi-dono?"_

"_We'll just have to split up and lure them away."_

"_I can't leave you behind, Nishizumi-dono! What if you get captured?"_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

(Rewind about 36 hours…)

"Now, all we have to do now is to get our respective crew members," declared Tatenashi, at the presence of the commanders of the five tanks in front of them. "Do not how many you can manage, just make sure that you can at least have 3 members, including yourselves, for each tank."

"So far, Teams 1 and 4 are more or less complete: Team Captain Bodewig-san and the _Schwarzer Hase_ contingent will commandeer the StuG III, while Kaichou-nee and I will board the IS Heavy with the Nohotoke sisters," added Kanzashi, while checking the crew status of their tanks. "Which means Teams 3 and 5 will need about 4 more members to properly operate the V39 and Easy Eight, respectively; while Team 2 will need 3 for the Cromwell…"

Cecilia and Charlotte got to scratching their heads trying to think of who to add from their classmates. Houki, on the other hand, was already counting up the people she could add.

"_Well, since Rin doesn't have any tank to command, I think it's just right for me to adopt her. There's also Mizuki-san from the Archery club; her aiming skills will come in handy. Now as to the other two…"_

Then, she got an idea. Immediately, she inquired the rest. "Excuse me, but is it okay if at least the Commander would do double duty in the tank?"

"Well, as long as you can manage, then I don't see why not," Tatenashi replied. "Although I would advise that you leave gunnery and driving duties to someone else."

"I see…"

With that, Houki brought out her cellphone and called a recently-met acquaintance.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"_Hello?"_

"Um, hello… Is this the Gotanda Residence?"

"_Yes, this is Ran speaking. May I know who this is?"_

"This is Shinonono Houki, we met before during the festival at my family's shrine, remember?"

"_Ah! Hello, Houki-san! It's nice to hear from you again."_

"Same to you, Ran. I just want to ask if you have anything to do for the next 7 days?"

"_Well, I technically don't have classes for the next 8 days, so I'm pretty much free. Why do you ask?"_

"Have you heard of the sport called _Sensha-Do?_"

"_Yes…"_

"What if I offer you a chance to participate in one _and_ get a chance to at least be a part of the IS Academy even before you officially enter as a student next year?"

"_Really?"_

"Yes."

"_Will I be able to meet Ichika as well?!"_

"*sighs* Yes…"

"_Alright, count me in! When should I be there?"_

"Well, we still have to practice, so as soon a normally possible; at least first thing tomorrow. I'll arrange for security to grant you limited access to the Academy."

"_Thank you, Houki-san! I'll be there first thing tomorrow."_

"Okay. I'll see you then."

*CLICK*

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Meanwhile…

"Are you sure about this, Yukari-san?" Miho inquired as the two of them reach the tram station which leads directly to the IS Academy.

"This will be easy, Nishizumi-dono," Yukari answered while double-checking the school uniforms they will be using once they successfully enter the complex. "All we need to do is take pictures of their tanks, and exit the academy. And besides, based on my experience this will be relatively easier than the time I spied on Saunders."

"I dunno. Your infiltration did not actually involve students who have access to technologically-superior powered armor. What if something bad happened to us?"

"No need to worry. I already made contact with Saemonza-dono's cousin who's also a student in the Academy. She promised to help us when things go FUBAR. We'll be okay."

"Well, if you say so, Yukari-san." Miho replied, while taking a set of the Academy uniform, as they boarded the tram. Besides, she has quite a lot more to be worried about, in particular that possibility that she'd bump into that man again.

"Mother... Nee-san… what should I do if see him again?" she said to herself.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at Ōarai Academy, Yuzu and Momo were busy with the usual paper works, in particular acquiring the essential upgrade for their Hetzer: the 105mm L/28 Howitzer.

While they were doing that though, Anzu was inside her office conversing on the telephone.

"I see. So those three were actually among your guests for the match eh? I must say they were quite good in their recon duty, but they seem to have overlooked the element of stealth."

"…"

"Well, I'll be having a couple of students from our team coming into your Academy. Please do show them proper courtesy, okay? I could not risk losing our valuable assets before the upcoming _Sensha-Do_ World Cup."

"…"

"Okay, pleasure talking to you then. Until we meet in the battlefield…"

With that, she finished the phone call and continued with her usual paperwork duty. Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Kaichou, our 'reinforcements' have arrived and would like to meet you now."

"Okay, Kawashima," she said. "Let them in…"

In came four women of different attires, indicating the schools where they came. This surprised Anzu, who was actually expecting five.

"Say, where's Duce?" she asked.

"I tried to contact her yesterday, but her second-in-command told me not to disturb her," said one of the girls, who wore a red uniform which contrasted her bright yellow hair.

"No need to worry; I'll have _my_ second-in-command 'convince' her to come join us within the next two days…" replied the other girl who had dark brown, neck-length hair.

"Okay; just keep yourselves comfortable for now. I'll introduce you all to the team later on. I'm sure they'll be in for a surprise, especially Nishizumi-chan…"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_Will Cecilia and Charlotte get crews for their tanks? Will Miho and Yukari be successful in their infiltration of the IS Academy? And, barring at least one (sort of), just who are these people that Anzu invited to become __Ō__arai's 'heavy back-up?'_

_TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT KAPITEL…_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X


End file.
